Panic suru!

A number of applications are being filed as "not delivered" or "undeliverable" in the USPS tracking system and have been put on delay or shoved away in 5-day store-and-return bins at the local post office in Washington D.C. That's what the PO clerks are saying.

Straight-up policy doesn't quite apply, according to some PO officers - Express mail usually gets two attempts at the front gate and then held for pick-up, which in D.C. 20008 (the Embassy) means packages go to Friendship Station.

Not sure if the Embassy picks up mail from the PO, but explanations are different depending on who you talk to at which time of day. The good one goes like this:

Embassy-bound Express mail gets special treatment - officers will try to delivery EVERY DAY until the package is accepted. That's reassuring, but no other PO clerks at D.C. 20008 are available to corroborate this claim. But we do know that the Friendship Station PO handles all Embassy mail, and is probably used to panicked last-minute confirmation calls and rush packages from JET applicants all over the U.S.

Just a bit worried. Couldn't reach any post office due to holidays, overnight mail on Nov 22 got lousy tracking and a rejection notice on Nov 23 and hasn't been updated since. Meanwhile non-Friendship POs have reported that the package got its second attempt ON THANKSGIVING DAY and further reports place the package at two different POs - one in Friendship, one nearby. The Embassy contact has been putting out fires all over, trying to reassure applicants that they probably received the packages and the entire USPS tracking system is bugged up. It's happened before.

What's the matter Pandilex? Can't handle a gun toting mailman? This stereotype is played up alot, but there is a pretty interesting history of gunplay and the US postal service. Do a google search using "postal shootings" as your search query, then prepare to revel in the awesome destructive force that is our postal service. To be safe I always point a loaded shotgun at my mailman and I have turned my front yard into mine field.

What's the matter Pandilex? Can't handle a gun toting mailman? This stereotype is played up alot, but there is a pretty interesting history of gunplay and the US postal service. Do a google search using "postal shootings" as your search query, then prepare to revel in the awesome destructive force that is our postal service. To be safe I always point a loaded shotgun at my mailman and I have turned my front yard into mine field.

I'm so happy to live in a gun free society, but not so happy to live in a city of chavs, stabbings and murders.

With the holidays gone and the POs back in practice, or anyway back to the work they do at non-holiday pace, just want to pip in with news that Embassy-bound tracking data is being corrected and Friendship Station has supervisors confirming packages by direct phone call - which doesn't help me, as my package was accidentally delivered precisely to the middle of the ocean (the blue one) by helicopter and detonated like a new year whistle pop over a chorus of mid-ocean beaver whales (also blue). But for everyone who's been sweating this episode, panic shinai de! Yappari daijou~bu!

Hope this post doesn't disrupt the delightful off-topic traffic.

Man I should log in one of these days. Post count isn't getting any healthier...